1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of searching a database using search term(s) entered by a user. More particularly, the present invention is a system and method for searching on a database including material in different languages where the search term(s) are entered in one of the languages where the database need not be translated into the different languages.
2. Background Art
Various methods have been proposed for searching a database wherein the database includes material in multiple languages. One approach is to translate the entire database into the language in which a search term is entered or the language of the user. However, this could involve a large amount of translation for a sizable database (and multiple translations if the database is used by users in different languages). Further, each process of translating a document has the potential for losing (or distorting) some of the meaning of the original text.
For these reasons, it is desirable to avoid translating the documents to allow for a search in a particular language.
Another approach is to use synonym list and apply it to the search term(s) entered in one language. That is, the text of the documents in the database remain in the original language and synonyms in each language for each search term(s) are used for the search of the database. This system may work in some cases but is undesirable in other cases because considering all of synonyms in the different languages could lead to incorrect results. The word for “network” in Spanish is “red” and a search on “network” which blindly translates the search term would incorrectly find English documents which include the color “red”.
Further, some of the documents include text in one language and key words presented in a different language to avoid changing the meaning. Thus, it is desirable to search a database which includes these terms but would not be effective to search only for the translated form of the word.
As will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art, the process of translating and searching in multiple languages can consume substantial computing resources. Many of the multi-language database searching techniques require a powerful computer or take an inordinate amount of time to process a single search, the amount depending on the size of the database, the number of supported languages and the nature of the queries. However, the computing resources have a cost associated with them, either in requiring a larger or faster system or in terms of tying up the computer while a large task is running to the exclusion of other users. Further, a search which takes a long period of time may prevent the user from interactively modifying the search to obtain meaningful results. Accordingly, it is desirable to avoid using large computing resources.
Accordingly, existing systems methods for searching databases have undesirable disadvantages and limitations which will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the following description of the present invention.